Are you a seeker or a sitter?
Luke 2:22-32
Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons." And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel."(NKJ)
Simeon was:
Simeon Knew what he was looking for. He was looking for the Messiah - Simeon was hunting Jesus. Simeon had read the Torah, he knew the prophecies and he had a Word from God...and most importantly HE BELIEVED.
Today our churches are filled with those who have read the Bible, have attended countless Bible studies and training seminars, have sat through thousands of sermons and have heard the truth. Yet, unlike Simeon, we sit in our pews until the hour is up and then return to our normal life - unaffected. Why? We are missing one or both of two vital attributes shown by Simeon.
1. Belief. To Simeon there was absolutely no doubt. God had spoken to Him and he believed Him. Do we believe today?
Faith to Believe is an absolute necessity to be a child of the King. Without belief we are never going to see everlasting life, only eternal seperation.
Acts 16:31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." (NKJ)
Jude 1:5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. (NKJ)
1 Thes 2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. (NKJ)
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (NKJ)
Not one drop of the Masters precious Blood will be wasted on disbelief. The scripture is clear on this - you must believe to be saved from the wrath of sin.
God wants to do something so powerful in our churches and in our lives today - if we will only believe Him when He begins His work. So many times when God wants to do something wonderful and powerful in our midst we cower in fear - afraid of what the cost will be or how it will affect our "comfortable lifestyle". If something new comes to us we try every conceivable method to sweep it under the rug before it upsets our notion of what is normal and acceptable in our church. God wants to move in ways that we cannot even imagine in our lives and we run and hide.
Simeon could have stayed home that day and continued reading the scriptures, searching every little jot and tittle of text, trying to uncover some new "code" hoping to unravel the mystery of the coming Messiah. But he didn't. He had the Word of God and he believed that Word and then he took the next step God called for. Simeon showed us the second attribute we need in our church today:
2. Action. Knowing the Will of God is one thing, believing that Word is another - but they are fruitless with out Doing the Will of the Father.
We have enough "Biblical Historians" and "Doctrinal Doctors" in the world today. I believe that God is tired of our hiding behind the veil of the next latest and greatest study series to come the path. We are not applying the knowledge we have or the gifts He has given us.
The sad part of this story is we already know that this is the truth. We even joke about it with phrases such as "Rusty Bottom Baptists", "Moss-Backs", "God's frozen chosen" and a host of other jokes and puns.
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (NKJ)
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (NKJ)
Simeon had no choice but to put his faith into action because he was a God Seeker. He knew that there was nothing in this world more important than God and there was nothing in this world that was going to stop him from chasing after God.
A man can go to K-Mart and purchase a gun, some bullets, camo-gear, dear scent and a permit from the state to hunt deer. But there is one thing he must do before he can call himself a deer hunter - he has to put on his gear and go out into the woods and actually hunt the deer.
A Christian can buy a Bible, attend church, study in all manner of ways but there is one thing he must do to live a life of faith - he has to put on the armour that God has given him and get out into the fields and actually hunt God. It is impossible to see where God is working if we never actually get busy and seek Him.
2 Chr 15:12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; (NKJ)
Ps 105:4 Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore! (NKJ)
John 6:27 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." (NKJ)
Oh how we need to seek Him today! Do you ever wonder why we are not seeing revival in our land today like has been seen in the past? We are sitters and not seekers. We are comfortable sitting on the sideline of faith, taking a knee while a precious few try to carry the team to victory. God's plan was for all of us to work together as a team, to function in total accord like a body, to compete His Holy plan.
Instead we sit. The most life we see in our churches is during business meetings when we try to erase God's plans with man's programs. If we only used the energy we expend fighting, fussing and gossiping seeking God we would see a might river of true revival flow through our land.
Folks, if we only placed God ahead of us and actively put our faith into action then we would have a church that the gates of hell could not prevail against. Yet we sit.
I know this paper has come hard against the established church, it was meant to. I also want to make it clear that I am not faultless in this. I am guilty of sitting when I should be seeking. I think that is why God had me write these things down - so they could become real to me - as I pray they do to you. It is my intention to encourage and to spur you into action.
God is looking for a few good people. People who will cast all the junk of this world behind and actively seek Him.
Simeon was a God seeker and he was not disappointed. Simeon found that God is always true to His Word. When will we crawl out of our studies, peek out from behind the musty wall of the church and believe what God has told us and get about the Father's business?
Simeon grabbed ahold of the infant Jesus and praised God. Are we ready to do that?
Are you?